The dragon didn't fare well, he died in the first encounter. I've not seen so many high numbers on 20 and 12-sideds in I don't know when.

My friend didn't even know he was fighting a dragon until round two.

The dice went against the dragon. One of the orcs scored a natural-20 (i.e. -- double damage) and the dwarf hit with every swing. High dice rolls including two natural twenties. What doomed this dragon was a low-level spell in Castles and Crusades that the druid cast. Summon Swarm. A group of bats circled the beast's head and since he was already almost blind and deaf, took massive (-10) 'to hits' when he struck back. It was ugly. At the end of round 3, the dragon fly off, but the dwarf and halfling both got parting shots. Guess what, they both scored "natural-20s!" It was great for the party. The dragon crash landed in the mire and that was that. They are feeling cocky now!

More later as time permits.

Last edited by JediOre on Fri Jun 09, 2006 8:37 am, edited 1 time in total.

Trevor gamed with his converted 4th level half-orc barbarian and a 5th level monk he rolled up (with 5 strength- the barbarian gave him his pair of gloves of ogre strength).

The new party traveled south and east on the bridges until they set off the skull. The dwarf, monk, and half-orc fled in terror. The wizard and halfling decided to retreat and regroup. When they returned they sent the elf and the halfling ahead a bit. The elf seemed to have the best vision and they had heard the sounds of metal working and barked commands ahead in the mist. They saw the fort. The halfling covered herself in mud and proceeded to sneak up to the walls for a closer look.

She avoided being detected as she crept along the north side of the fort. She came to the crevise and all the players got spooked by the pulsing glow she saw. They figured this was the cause of the problem but have no idea what to do about it yet.

The halfling crawls back and reports what she saw. The group is at a loss as to how to tackle this fort. They see the guards and can tell they are on alert. The halfling says she could climb the wall and through them a rope. The opt against this since there are other areas on the map to explore still.

More later...

Last edited by JediOre on Tue Jan 02, 2007 2:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Aww, and I was looking for some juicy answers to all of our questions!

Well, I thought I would give my 1st impressions of the system and of Harley's adventure. Harley, the reputation that you've gotten with Jediore is well deserved. The module is a blast so far (forget about the 90 minutes we spent trying to figure out the silly dragon neklace). I'm looking forward to being able to tackle the rest of it. I was hopeful that we'd get it done Saturday, but had no idea it was going to take as long as it did to convert characters to C&C. As for my feelings about C&C, I had reservations. Jedi has been pushing this switch for some time. I was one of the biggest naysayers (sp?). I had no interest in what I considered a watered down version of what I considered a near perfect system. But, Jedi made some concessions on feats and skill bundles that eased my mind a bit (I hate cookie-cutter characters, and we DON'T role-play[at least not much]). We're all about killing and treasure hehe (what Jedi likes to call the videogame mentality). As we played Saturday, I came to realize something that I hadn't really thought of before; we didn't use a lot of what 3.0/3.5 had to offer. The rogue used their rogue skills quite frequently, but the rest of the party rarely did. We didn't map out combats with the exception of the BIG fight in the module. Oh, I'd try to make Jedi verbally back himself into a corner, but anytime I did the monster would have some special immunity to physical attacks when standing next to a wall or something equally amazing....LOL. So, the combat feats rarely came into use either.

But, the system really wasn't that different from what I could see, at least from the way we played it. So, it looks like things will stay as they are now. I kind of hate that I'll never see high level characters in action, but cest la vie.

Harley, great adventure so far. I have a feeling that this won't be the last Harley Stroh adventure that graces our campaigns.

So, after pulling back from the fort the gang headed back to the start to check out "that other bridge."

Upon seeing the statue it begins to rise. Everyone gets prepared for a battle. The cleric catchs a glint of something metalic off near the edge of the island. Ragnar1965 has the cleric pull out his warhammer and run pell mell at the metalic glint to whack it hard. He and Trevor thought it may have been a lever that could affect the statue (I think).

The statue rushs at the large half-orc barbarian and hits him for some damage. They all noticed the statue was not carved with much detail. Except for an odd, 5-eyed skull. It was plain this skull must represent the prize trophy of this long dead "savage king." Sad to say, the statue was in over its head between the dwarf and the half-orc.

The cleric however won the boobie prize for finding a very large torc with the mighty blow of his warhammer upon the offending silver orb on one end. That was FUNNY!!!

Terry (er, Ragnar1965) relized quickly this must have been worn by the late black dragon. Perhaps a trophy?

They had the magic-user detect if it was magical. Of course it was. They figured out the runes, but had no idea what they meant. Trevor came to the conclusion it must reference the dragon since it didn't care a wit about mankind.

Saturday's gaming session continues....

Last edited by JediOre on Wed Jul 05, 2006 10:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

After the battle with the kingly statue, the group headed back into the mire to explore futher.

They came upon an old mud hovel built off of the base of a large tree.

They called out into the darkened doorway but got no reply. They could make out a low fire in the dwelling. All of them seemed to have "a bad feeling about this."

The 12-year old playing the elven wizard shouted out they needed to go in to see what lived there. The others offered to allow the elf to go first but he declined. (It's always fun to see one of the gamers suggest doing something dangerous but not willing to do it themselves).

Finally they had the dwarf, halfling, and the half-orc go in. The met the mad elf. I had fun playing him. I stared off between two of them, as though blind, and offered the PCs "tea" from the bubbling pot on the fire. I'm guessing it was the lizard legs that made them decline.

They started asking questions to which I had the elf begin the "crazy talk" about the Witch Queen and the demon, a prince and the blight. I babbled like a brook. I don't normally get into the "roll-playing" aspect but last Saturday (with the ease of C&C) I was having a blast.

Then in a quiet voice the elf asked if they "wanted to join my army?" The players where still talking among themselves about what all this crazy talk meant when, all of a sudden, I slamed my palm down on the kitchen table as hard as I could (it hurt) and shreaked "Do you what to join my army!" Ragnar1965 must have jumped six inches out of his chair! Boy did I get their attention. Ragnar1965 said "don't you EVER do that again!"

The PCs begin to ask about the army when the skeletons burst through the ground and attack. Ragnar1965 and Trevor launched everything they had at the old elf, cleaving him between a long sword, two-handed axe, and a magical short sword. My spooking them caused a lot of aggression towards the elf, with no regard of the undead. The battle ended fast.

The PCs searched the room and found the letters.

I'll try and finish this session on the next post.

Last edited by JediOre on Thu Sep 28, 2006 6:32 am, edited 1 time in total.

Great story so far. Keep 'em coming. So, how is Castles and Crusades? The only thing that I've seen that turns me off is the lack of multiclasing.

Yeah, as he said, you can multiclass. The only thing that turned me off was the lack of a skills system. Otherwise, very cool. It really gets back to the concept of archetype that later editions moved away from (which might be why there's a lack of a skill system).

I'll let anyone attempt to move silent or track. The difference is unless it is a class skill the PC will not get to add their level to the roll & I'd add a penalty (in secret) to the roll to represent the lack of knowledge.

For example, if a wizard was attempting to track I'd give him a -10 on the roll, but if a barbarian was attempting the same, it'd be maybe a -3 since he is a lot closer to a ranger than the wizard was.

So ya don't like the skill bundles, eh? I've not really looked at 'em all that close. I do remember someone on the Troll Lord's boards (or maybe Dragons' Foot) lodge the same complaint. Lot's of folks have offered different ideas. C&C isn't for everyone.

The cleric however won the boobie prize for finding a very large torc with the mighty blow of his warhammer upon the offending silver orb on one end. That was FUNNY!!!

Mace to the torc! **BONG** This had me laughing out loud.

JediOre wrote:

Then in a quiet voice the elf asked if they "wanted to join my army?" The players where still talking among themselves about what all this crazy talk meant when, all of a sudden, I slamed my palm down on the kitchen table as hard as I could (it hurt) and shreaked "Do you what to join my army!" Ragnar1965 must have jumped six inches out of his chair! Boy did I get there attention. Ragnar1965 said "don't you EVER do that again!"

Okay, here’s the last installment of our Saturday, June 3rd Gaming day:

After leaving the hovel the PCs explored south and found the log bridge. Few could stay upon it, with the half-orc simply giving up and began trudging through the mire along side the bridge. They had spotted several large lizard-like beings watching them in the distance, only the eyes and tops of the heads protruded from the swamp. No one made any hostile moves at these things. Everyone had to make several Constitution saves since they kept falling into the mire. All are afraid they may have caught this blight the dragon had.

At the “fork” in the log bridges, the party went eastward and arrived at a small land mass which abutted a large granite cliff facing. The rock facing went high up into the mists with no end in sight. The group explored the island and found it bounded by the mire to the north and this granite tor to the south. They had no way to go but back the way they came via the mostly submerged logs. On a whim, and perhaps my the look on my face, Ragnar1965 had his dwarf explore a small water-filled depression which rested against this granite facing. He saw a small 4-inch hole in the rock, roughly 6-foot above the water! Large claw marks, perhaps made by the dragon, scar the rock about the hole.

The party decides this is worth investigating. Which they do. They spend over an hour and a half in real time trying to figure out what to do. They poke long bones (with a light spell on one end) into the hole. The toss pebbles into the hole. They want to know how such a hole could come to pass. (Why, it seems to be a natural phenomenon the dwarf calls a clay pipeline. At some point in the distant past, this 20-odd foot 4-inch hole was filled with clay. Over the years the clay was displaced.) But most importantly, why did the dragon have an interest in it?

An augury proclaims ‘weal’ to the question “is there something on the other side of this tunnel that will aid the party.” The guys take stock as to what the PCs have. A potion of gaseous form is produced. Hummmmm. Lots of discussion about using this occurs. The elf wizard has spider climb in his spell book but not memorized. Trevor is interested in having his monk climb the granite facing to see if he can reach the top and see if this hole’s end might be seen from above. The party agrees to rest the night to have the wizard memorize spider climb and identify (for the torc).

As they set up for the night, the half-orc heads down to the mire’s edge to heed “nature’s call” (my way of having the random encounter work). The half-orc is attacked by a 30-foot croc! Ragnar1965 has his dwarf grab his axe and race down to help the barbarian. I ask what the barbarian is going to do, and Trevor says, “First things first: ZIIIIIPPPPP!” (making the motion of zipping his fly). We all paused to laugh about that. The croc got a good hit in on the half-orc, and had he not used his attack to retreat away from the swamp, death was waiting for the barbarian as the croc would have pulled him into the water. However, the dwarf, monk, and halfling all assailed the beast. With the help of magic missle all went well.

Later that evening the party could see two “regular” crocodiles come up to sun them selves in the waning light near the dead giant croc. One of the animals had the blight. Alex (the 11/12-year old) simply could not resist and had his wizard shoot of a fireball at the unsuspecting animals. Alex had never had a wizard before and his dad, Trevor, is well known for fireballing everything and anything that may be considered dangerous. Alex had to “try out” his fireball spell. The beasts both failed their saves and promptly died (no experience points to be awarded for that).

During the night the dwarf, on watch, begin to notice a horific smell. Something beyond rotten. Two sets of dim, red-glowing, eyes could be seen just out side the glow of the fire. The dwarf could hear the beings whisper to him to come out and join them. They hungered and wished to know him, etc. The dwarf did the manly thing and, failing a save, puked from the stench. Ragnar1965 made it plain he did this on the half-orc to wake him up! The things retreated into the night and they never did see what they were.

The next day, they have the monk climb, via spider climb, up the cliff. He finds nothing but more cliff. He returns unsuccessful. By now everyone has forgotten the identify spell (as it was now past 10:30 at night, remember Ragnar1965 and I have been going at it since around 10am) and we spend lots more time debating the potion of gaseous form.

Finally, just after 11pm, I reminded Alex that his elven wizard memorized identify for a reason. They cast it on the torc and find out it’s powers but not its command word. The identify spell does note the answer to the riddle is the password. I remember Ragnar1965 commenting on the inscription, “That’s a riddle?” He-he-he. The guys begin working on an answer to the riddle, when Trevor simply blurts out “death!” and bang the three PCs standing in the circumference of the torc become gaseous.
The find the dragon’s horde and read the letter of the dead cleric. They are now primed to head out towards the “other log bridge.”

By now its midnight and I end the game. We are all wiped out but had a blast.

Next week Ragnar1965 and myself are sharing a hotel room in Nebraska as we get training on a new computer system. His dwarf, halfling, druid, monk, and the “red-shirts” will continue this module in the evenings after the training sessions. I’ll post how that goes as well, as time allows.

Harley, this is a fine adventure and is living up to my expectations when I bought and read this last year.

We had so much fun. Trying to puzzle out the hole was fun even if it took a long time. I had a blast knowing the answer was close by the whole time. They enjoyed trying different things in an attempt to overcome the problem. If things had gotten dull, I'd have suggested that perhaps the torc may be the key. Maybe not. Not finding the dragon's horde wouldn't have wrecked the game since they had figured out most of the clerics letter on their own. Sometimes an unsolved mystery makes for memorable times too.

As far as tough. Yea they are. We like it. I'm not "monty haul" (just ask the players), but I really enjoy each character to find a mighty magical item from the dim "mists of time." To me, each character should feel like a hero of legend, and most heroes of legend have something to make them stand out (Conan didn't, but he's over-the-top all by himself).

But at the end of the day, a module has done its job (and more then paid for itself) if everyone at the table had fun.

As far as tough. Yea they are. We like it. I'm not "monty haul" (just ask the players), but I really enjoy each character to find a mighty magical item from the dim "mists of time." To me, each character should feel like a hero of legend, and most heroes of legend have something to make them stand out (Conan didn't, but he's over-the-top all by himself).

Nods. It sounds like a great group, and a wonderful way to introduce new players to the game.

Reading your retelling, I went back and read the text file for the Legacy. I had forgotten some of the elements in the later stages of the module. I think (hope, pray) your players are in for a good time.

I can't WAIT to read about how you play out the two conclusions. The first one, especially, is such a high stakes situation ... but I shouldn't worry. Your group is in good hands.

I'm at the hotel computer waiting for the shuttle to take Ragnar1965 & myself to eight hours of computer training so I can't give details yet.

We've had a great deal of fun. He got suprized by the lizardmen on the log bridge, overcame the croc living in the enterence to the ruins in a simple, yet efficient, manner. The lizardmen at the top of the steps caused massive pain and we ended last night with the owlbear getting overwhelmed, but not before dropping the cleric into single digit hit points.

The party left the "dragon hole" and returned to the fork-in-the-island. They walked right into the lizardmen's trap.

The dwarf, the monk, and one of the red-shirts fell into the water. Both the dwarf and the man-at-arms sank straight to the bottom. The driud used his wolf spear to snag one of the nets and yank it alway from the lizardmen. The halfling pulled out her magic short sword and, yelling at the top of her lungs, leapt onto the other lizardman with the net, using her blade to "stabilize" her landing. She hit him and did big damage. The other man-at-arms used his long spear to reach out to his fellow "red shirt." Both of the men-at-arms were of no use in this fight. Neither was the dwarf. He struggled to push along to the island and crawl out onto dry ground. He ended up tired, smelly, and out of breath.

Thus the fight came down to a druid on the log, a monk swimming among the lizardmen, and a lady hobbit using her +2 short sword with wild abandon. Since the druid used his spear to snag one of the nets he put it aside and cast magic stone on three pebbles. Over the course of the next three rounds, the druid missed with every stone. The hobbit stabbed her opponent to death and fell into the water. Ragnar1965 was quite clear that the little thief held on to her blade with everything she had. The monk and two lizardmen went toe-to-toe in the water. He lost a lot of hit points, but his ability to use his hands for damage in the water won the day for him. The smallest lizardmen swam away and the party let him go. They were glad no one got drowned. I can't remember who helped the halfling out of the mire. Either the monk swam to her or one of the men-at-arms used their long spear as a "life line" to her.

The party, led by an angry dwarf, crossed over to the main area. They found the ancient archway, but none could read the hieroglyphs. They opted not to enter the archway yet but to continue to explore. They find an opening that lead to the lair of a large creature. Further in the cave a small pool extended into the darkness and a single, mostly submerged, log floated forlornly at the edge of the torch light. The druid inspects the pool to see if the water might be suitable for bathing since most of them reek of swamp mud and lizardmen. The druid wades into the water and notices fish oil. He also relizes this water is somewhat foul as well and not really of bathing quaility. The druid also notices the log is drifting closer. Since he is a druid, and the C&C Player's Handbook says druids have nature lore, I ruled he realized the danger and carelfully backed out, motioning the others to move back. He said nothing until he was out of the water and they ran out. This monster croc measures over 30-foot.

The PCs decide that this is a dead end and return to the archway. In they go. They became introduced to the inhabitants of the dark corridor beyond the arch way. The halfling feels something pass by her and that something removed a bit of her "vitality."

Now you got to understand Ragnar1965's reaction to undead. Me, I'm spooked by 'em. Others I've known will run the moment they appear, or they unload everything they got at them in hopes of a quick victory. Ragnar1965 ALWAYS gets angry! He'll spend a minute or two griping about undead. I've not seen such a reaction in a player before. So, while bitter words about "unfair" and "hate" are cast about dice are rolled in an attempt to esponge this foul things from this plane of existence. The monk gets hit two times and two points of strength are extracted. It's kinda fun to make him sweat about this loss, but he gets too hot around the coller to say much when it comes to undead.

Anyway, the PCs arrive at the "gate." Ragnar1965 ponders this gate for a while. He has the party leave the room and has the dwarf use his deep-vision to look into the holes through the 'doors'. He sees a small anti-chamber beyond. Ragnar1965 ponders more. He decides to stick the driuds arm into the hole, but at the last moment he changes his mind and has one of the men-at-arms poke his long spear through instead, all the while the dwarf watchs using his dark-vision. Sratch one spear. The dead fall trap removes the spear from play. We both agreed this was the better loss.

Ragnar1965 decides to have the party hole up here for the night so the druid can choose new spells and the party can heal for the night. He figures nothing will come here since it was the lair of somekind of undead.

I use this as a stopping point for the night since it was almost 9:45 pm.

As an aside, Ragnar1965 really enjoyed the Embassy Suites’ Patty melt sandwich. He said it was great! He ate one almost every night.

The druid memorized Animal Friendship in hopes of enlisting the aid of the large crocodile. He also memorized Hold Animal in the event things didn’t go as planned.

The party picked up two dead kobolds the PCs killed on the way back to the arch (I forgot to mention the patrol of 5 kobolds in my last report). The druid entered the crocodile’s lair with the carcasses. He placed the dead kobolds at the water’s edge and waited for the animal to take the offering. This is the first part of casting Animal Friendship. The crocodile approached and took the bait. The spell was cast and the save was made (I rolled a 19). What a bummer. I thought it would be cool to have such a companion for the druid, but that’s the way it went. Ragnar1965 was even more disappointed than me. He had ideas of using the crocodile in the assault of the fort!

Plan B was put into place. Ragnar1965 had the druid cast Hold Animal and the other PCs rush into the room to attack the beast before it got too far into the water and became even more dangerous. The crocodile failed its save on the Hold Animal and for 5 rounds it was unable to move. That was more than enough time for the dwarf with his great axe and the cleric with his two-handed sword to cut its head off.

Thus the party eliminated another tough opponent with little effort! Curses!!

More on Monday night’s gaming session soon. Don’t worry Harley, the easy stuff came to an end at the top of the stairs…

Ragnar1965 stated on several occasions while we were up in Lincoln, Nebraska that he felt the druid in C&C is weaker than the 3.5 version. I'm not sure about that, he may be right. He has also expressed concern that a wizard would be much better than the druid in his party.

I reviewing what I've written thus far, I think he has been better served by his druid than by a wizard. At least up until this point.

This is the first part of casting Animal Friendship. The crocodile approached and took the bait. The spell was cast and the save was made (I rolled a 19). What a bummer. I thought it would be cool to have such a companion for the druid, but that’s the way it went. Ragnar1965 was even more disappointed than me. He had ideas of using the crocodile in the assault of the fort!

That would have been SO cool. Druid riding out of the swamp atop a mighty war-croc! Sweet!!!

Quote:

More on Monday night’s gaming session soon. Don’t worry Harley, the easy stuff came to an end at the top of the stairs…

I don't know that weaker is the right word. I am disappointed in the lack of summoning spells in C&C. What I really like to do with my druid is flood the room with whatever animals that the druid sees fit. Nothing more fun than throwing 3 or 4 brown bears out to keep the bad guys occupied. Once the bears are on the mobs, cast web with my wizard or entangle with my Druid depending on the situation. Fight is pretty much over. In 3.5, Summon Natures Ally can be cast spontaneously (just the CLW for a good aligned cleric).

It's true that the druid has been instrumental in the party's success so far. Jury is still out. Doesn't really matter though, cause I'm trading in redshirts for a 5th level wizard anyway. So, now I'll have both, unless of course one of them meets an untimely death : )

Still liking the adventure Harley. Jedi mentioned the Undead. Could've done without those, but the rest has been stellar.

_________________Forgiveness is between you and your maker. I'm just responsible for the meeting.

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